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Monday, June 3, 2013

Are Some Extinct Words Worth Bringing Back?

I recently read an article (here) that makes a case for bringing back some words that may have perished too soon. According to the writer Carmel Lobello, some are thousands of years old, from before English officially existed. Here is a selection of my favorites from the article:

Jirble: To pour out (a liquid) with an unsteady hand: as, he jirbles out a dram—www.wordnik.com

Curglaff: The shock felt in bathing when one first plunges into the cold water—John Jamieson's Etymological Scottish Dictionary, 1808

Beef-witted: Having an inactive brain, thought to be from eating too much beef.—John Phin's "Shakespeare Cyclopaedia and Glossary," 1902Resistentialism: The seemingly spiteful behavior shown by inanimate objects—www.ObsoleteWord.Blogspot.com

What do you think? Is there any way obsolete words can make a true comeback? Would you use any of these regularly now that you know them? What of our words will make the list in another 500-1000 years? Read the full article on Ragan.com.